Union Budget 2014

The BJP Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has a big task on his hands as he presents the new government's budget tomorrow and the health industry will hope that they don't get the short end of the stick as no Indian government has ever spent a lot on the health sector. One niche industry which will be keenly watching the Fin Min is the health insurance industry which has really blossomed in the past couple of years. The challenge is of course to provide as many people with health insurance as possible and that's where the RSBY or the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana that looks to provide over 120 million people with health coverage. According to the ET, the PMO has sought an explanation from the labour industry asking why the RSBY programme shouldn't be transferred to the health ministry.

'The letter suggests that in many states, the programme is already being implemented by the health departments,' an official told ET pointing out that these states performed better. In fact, the health ministry is refining its own health management system and integrating it with RSBY's IT system to make it more cohesive. 'We need a central coordinated effort on universal health coverage. If RSBY has to be scaled up to cover everyone, we would need the vision of the health ministry or at least ensure that labour and health come together on a platform to expand the existing programme,' said A Vaidheesh, vice-president, Johnson & Johnson, and chairman, CII healthcare sub-committee on health insurance told ET.

Antony Jacob, CEO, Apollo Munich Health Insurance feels that new government should make health insurance accessible to people. He said: 'With a new, stable government at the centre, we hope for an impetus towards a higher growth trajectory for the health insurance sector and to make health insurance more accessible and affordable for all. The first step that the Government could take immediately would be to increase the tax exemption limit under Section 80D from INR 15,000 to INR 25,000 for individuals and an additional INR 25,000 for parents (INR 30,000 for parents who are senior citizens). This would ensure families have the much needed financial means to keep a check on their current health status.'

Also, he hoped that The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill 2008 would be passed this year which would allow the insurance companies to avail more FDI (the current limit is 26%). Manasije Mishra, CEO, Max Bupa, told ET that the only way universal health coverage could be achieved is through public-private partnership (PPP) model.

'We need to go beyond the RSBY module and reach out to a wider population to provide quality healthcare at a faster pace. Allocation of resources for PPP (public private partnership) to increase health insurance penetration and improve the overall healthcare scenario will be a positive move for the sector. We need a unified and universal system that is funded through a progressive taxation system,' he said.

Others felt that corporates should do more for their employees. Mr Roopam Asthana of Liberty Videocon General Insurance told ET, 'Moreover, corporates and SMEs need to be pushed to provide health insurance coverage for a stipulated minimum amount on a mandatory basis to all their employees. This should be combined with an effort to set standard costs for pre-defined medical procedures at hospitals where this insurance cover can be availed.'

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